Women into science and engineering? Gendered participation in higher education STEM subjects

Abstract

This paper considers gendered patterns of participation in post‐compulsory STEM education. It examines the trajectory of learning that takes students from A‐level qualifications, through undergraduate work and into employment or further study. It also uses a long‐term view to look at the best available evidence to monitor participation and attainment over an extended period of time. The findings suggest that almost three decades of initiatives to increase participation in STEM subjects have had little noticeable impact on the recruitment data and gendered patterns of participation persist in several subject areas. This is despite more women entering HE and little gender difference in the entry qualifications for STEM subjects. While more women are studying science, as broadly conceived, than ever before, recruitment to key areas, namely physics and engineering remains stagnant. However, for those women who do remain in the ‘science stream’ patterns of employment in graduate careers and further study appear relatively equitable.

Acknowledgement

The research on which this paper was based was funded by the ESRC (RES 22002005).

Notes

1. Higher National Diploma: this is a HE qualification that is equivalent to the first two years of an undergraduate degree.

2. Polytechnics were tertiary level institutions that differed from universities in that their focus was traditionally on vocational programmes. The 1992 Further and Higher Education Act abolished the distinction between polytechnics and universities.

3. See Appendix 1 for a description of the method used to measure relative achievement.

4. The organisation of UCAS STEM subject groups is provided in Appendix 1.

5. SOC groupings represent the official UK government’s classifications for employment. Those beginning with 2 represent ‘Professional Occupations’ and those beginning with 3 represent ‘Associate Professional and Technical Occupations’.

6. Clearing is a service which is offered by UCAS to help people without a university place to find a suitable vacancy. It runs annually from July to September after the usual period of recruitment has ended.